Dries call time on chambers keg

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Alcohol, George Bernard Shaw wrote, enables parliament to do things at 11 at night that no sane person would do at 11 in the morning. But sobriety, it seems, is back in vogue in Sydney, where two councillors are planning heresy by introducing prohibition to council meetings.

Unlike most Sydney councils, Woollahra serves dinner and drinks before its meeting rather than afterwards, leading to claims of alcohol-fuelled tomfoolery in the chamber. If the deputy mayor, David Shoebridge, and his fellow Green, Tanya Excell, have their way, tonight's pre-meeting tipple will be the last. They say going dry would "ensure that all councillors and staff are able to give clear and sober consideration to all matters before them".

So far, there are no allegations to rival the likes of the drunken lunge by the Broken Hill MP Peter Black at Virginia Judge in the lower house or Andrew Bartlett's boozed brush with a colleague on the Senate floor. But the Greens are adamant the move is vital.

Cr Shoebridge said ratepayers should not have to pay "to addle the minds of the decision makers". He did not want to detail alcohol-fuelled outbursts. Nor did Cr Excell, who said there was "a certain amount of excess" and some proceeded to "act in a silly manner" after drinking too much.

He said Cr Shoebridge and he had "flare-ups". "We had one the other night. I said he was a dill or something. This is just typical of the Greens. I might suggest, given the Greens' philosophy, we should put the word 'drugs' in there."

Christopher Dawson, an independent, believed the ban was all a bit childish. "Often those who drink the least, or not at all, get the nastiest," he said.